Home / Malaysia on alert after arrests of 9 terror suspects, including a foreigner

Malaysia on alert after arrests of 9 terror suspects, including a foreigner

March 11, 2019 | Brainwave Science

SITUATION

Ever since the arrest of nine terror suspects on February, Malaysian police are on alert against foreign infiltrating terrorist fighters. The inspector general of police Mohd Fuzi Harun, said the police are taking this very seriously and will continue to cooperate with foreign intelligence agencies to eliminate individuals.

Between Feb 2 and Feb 9, nine terror suspects including six Egyptians and one Tunisian were arrested. Two of them, a 21-year-old Egyptian and a 22-year-old Tunisian, are said to be members of Ansar Al Shariah Al Tunisia who entered Malaysia using false Syrian travel documents.

Ansar Am Shariah Al Tunisia is based in North Africa and is listed by the United Nations as an international terrorist group responsible for planning large scale attacks in several countries.

The other five Egyptians picked up by police special branch are members of Muslim Brotherhood Al Ikhwanul Muslimin and functioned as facilitators to secure lodging, logistics and jobs including buying air tickets for members. Two of them were students from institutions of higher learning in Malaysia, while another two were teachers, one at a religious school in Klang valley and another an Arabic teacher.

Also arrested were two Malaysians in Serian Sarawak who were charged with terror offences as facilitators to foreign fighters.

All seven foreigners had been deported to their home countries on Mar 5 and blacklisted in Malaysia.

Since Islamic State was defeated in Syria and Iraq, Mohd Fuzi said foreign fighter elements are now trying to use Malaysia as a haven, transit and logistical hub to plan an attack in a third country.

The Malaysian police described some common methods used by foreign fighters to come in and operate in Malaysia including marrying locals in order to get a spouse visa. Others exploit their student visa or try to set up businesses in Malaysia.

War on terror and Islamic extremism have brought terror in Malaysia to where it is today.

The presence of groups like Ansar Am Shariah Al Tunisia, which hail from Africa is a dangerous sign and thus Malaysia is on High-alert.

The country has seen several events related to terrorism ever since 1940s. The latest event took place on 30 August 2017. The police foiled a terrorist plot on the closing ceremony of the SEA Games in Bukit Jalil and the 60th National Day parade in Merdeka Square with the arrest of 19 suspects of terrorist including eight members of Abu Sayyaff group and one suspect of Bangladeshi Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen group in separate operations in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor etc.

Terrorism poses a serious challenge as the government battles the problem of radicalization and try to defeat terrorists plotting to attack the country. Islamic State’s unit in Malaysia, Katibah Nusantara, has been threatening the Counter Terrorism division for interfering with the group’s recruitment plans. Despite multiple arrests and foiling of several attacks, terror still remains in Malaysia and surrounding countries. Malaysian counter-terrorism agencies struggle to eliminate terrorist threats from domestic and foreign groups. Identifying a terrorist is an uphill task and agencies usually apprehend foot-soldiers. It is important to locate and arrest members of the senior leadership of these terror groups. The Malaysian government has enforced several laws which empower counter-terrorism departments to detain persons linked with terror groups without bringing them to trial for up to 60 days or more.

In this process, it is possible that innocents may get detained based on suspicion. Their human rights will be violated and because of preventive detention, they will have little recourse. This is where conventional interrogation falls short. For a country like Malaysia, where there are multiple problems like the Rohingya Crisis, multiple terror groups, both domestic and foreign, existing techniques such as torture and interrogation are simply ineffective and inefficient.

WHY ICOGNATIVE?

Brainwave Science is a company based in Massachusetts, US which has embarked on a mission to provide cutting edge technology to law enforcement and investigation departments. Its breakthrough technology, called iCognative is a boon for the investigation departments all over the world. iCognative is a technology which can bring order to the otherwise chaotic and unpredictable world of investigation and interrogation. Brainwave Science has introduced a cutting-edge tool which has all the desired characteristics and can drastically reduce the workload of the investigating agencies while increasing the accuracy of the screening of suspects. This revolutionary tool in the field of forensic science is called iCognaitive. The cost of interrogation using iCognative comes out to be immensely lower than conventional interrogation. Popular techniques like DNA and fingerprinting are very limited in their applicability. DNA and Fingerprints are recovered in only 1-2% of the cases. Lie detector tests are not foolproof. iCognative test is not only applicable to 85-90% of all civil and criminal cases but also, it has no known countermeasures. It does not report false positives or false negatives. It has a demonstrated accuracy of 99.9% in detecting EOD/IED bomb knowledge, uncovering high intelligence value individuals, and establishing links between a suspect and known terrorist networks, places and events. It is much more than a screening test. It can be used to effectively determine the level of involvement in terrorist activity, help identify potential threats, even those who are members of sleeper cells or those who have been inactive for years, help verify hierarchal and leadership structure within terrorist organizations, detect potential threats within asylum applicants and refugee camps, and validate the possible links from database analysis techniques and methodologies.

Counter Terrorism investigators have always envisaged a tool like iCognative. Now it is a reality and is being used by agencies all over the world to validate potential threats and terrorist activity with reliability and accuracy.

iCognative uncovers concealed information by measuring brain waves. The test subject is made to wear a headset and exposed to stimuli containing information gathered from the investigation of the crime. The stimuli can be images, words, and phrases related to the crime. The iCognative system analyses the brain’s response to the stimulus and identifies whether the incriminating information is ‘present’ or ‘absent’ in the brain.

In this case, the 9 arrested persons can be made to undergo the iCognative test. The stimuli can be IED/Bomb training manuals, propaganda material used to radicalize them, the material which they used while teaching, transaction details of the bookings which they made, CCTV footage of the persons at checkpoints, details, and pictures of others terrorists who may be from same outfits, etc.

Every investigative agency across the world must have iCognative in their arsenal for fighting crime. It is only a matter of time before it will become the standard way to conduct a reliable and fair investigation.

iCognative is admired by law enforcement, investigators and the judiciary. This is because it is non-invasive, involves no torture, is easy to teach and learn, is highly portable and customizable in terms of language and function.

The Malaysian police and counter-terror agencies must use iCognative, provided only by Brainwave Science in their hunt for terrorists among the masses and to help put them behind them bars quickly.